Write About Now

First Lady Rose Cleveland and socialite Evangeline Simpson Whipple had a love affair that lasted almost 30 years. The mostly unknown story is told beautifully in “Precious and Adored: The Love Letters of Rose Cleveland and Evangeline Simpson Whipple, 1890-1918. On this episode, the book's authors, Lizzie Ehrenhart and Tilly Laskey, join the show to tell this sweet and tragic love tale that still has resonance today, especially during Pride Month and the 50th anniversary of Stonewall.

On the first-ever LIVE edition of Write About Now, I speak to Dean Kuipers, author of "The Deer Camp: A Memoir of a Father, a Family, and the Land that Healed Them." Kuipers speaks candidly about what it was like growing up with an emotionally distant and philandering dad, and how a 100-acre piece of land in Michigan eventually bonded them. A former editor at The Los Angeles Times and Spin magazines, Kuipers has written extensively on radical environmental movements, rock’n’roll, and myriad other topic

Writers are good at finding reasons not to write. My guest Grant Faulkner has heard them all. Faulkner is executive director of National Novel Writing Month and author of "Pep Talks for Writers: 52 Insights and Actions to Boost Your Creative Mojo." On the podcast, he addresses some of the most common writing roadblocks, including lack of time, self-doubt, and getting negative feedback, then he offers up some tips and tricks to get over the hump. If you're looking for motivation, listen to this interview.

Tucker Max is a four-time New York Times bestseller and co-founder of Scribe Media, which helps people write and publish non-fiction books. In this fascinating, and somewhat controversial, interview Tucker argues that the scribe method, in which books were dictated not written, was used for thousands of years before typewriters and computers came along. He then takes us through the process of writing a book: How to position it, structure it, write it, edit it, and get it published.

When Pamela Redmond wrote her novel Younger in 2005, she never dreamed that a decade later it would be turned into a TV show by Sex and the City creator Darren Star. But here we are. The show is about to launch its sixth season and a new edition of her book will be published on June 4. I sat down to talk with Pamela about her inspiration for the book. How she wrote it in three weeks using a technique she learned from a famous mystery writer. And what advice she would give her younger self.

Bobette Buster has spent most of her life teaching the art of storytelling. She's the author of Do Story: How to Tell Your Story So the World Listens, a USC professor, and a story consultant to Pixar, Disney, and Sony Animation. On this episode, she unlocks the key principles of storytelling, including what she calls the "gleaming detail" and "handing over the spark." Whether you're writing a novel, a screenplay, or a powerpoint presentation, this episode will help you tell your story in a new way.

In 1981, Mr. Schick, aka Danny Rivera, made history as the first MC ever rap on a record in Spanish. The song was "Disco Dream" by The Mean Machine. Although it enjoyed modest success on the radio, it's been largely forgotten. Until now. This is the extraordinary story of the events that led to the record and the tragedy, perseverance, and friendship that followed. To quote a lyric from Disco Dream: "Like a little bit of tuna with some mayonnaise​, when you hear Schick rap you'll be amazed."

When David Borgenicht co-wrote The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook in 1999, he never expected it to sell 10-million copies and inspire two TV shows and 30 spin-off books. But that's what happened. Twenty years later, an updated version of the handbook is out. David joins the show to talk about survival in the 21st century and his mashup-obsessed publishing company Quirk Books, which is behind Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and William Shakespeare's Star Wars.

In March of 2012, Caroline Van Hemert and her husband, Pat, set off on a 4,000-mile wilderness journey from the Pacific rainforest to the Alaskan Arctic, traveling by rowboat, ski, foot, raft, and canoe. Together, they encountered harrowing dangers and beautiful natural wonders. Caroline joins the show to talk about the process of both surviving six months in the wild and another few years capturing it all in her stunning new book, The Sun is a Compass.

Young Adult (or YA) fiction is booming. And YA books are often ranked as the most requested genre by agents. So what makes a novel both young adult and really good? Those are some of the questions I pose to my guest Marietta Zacker, who knows YA inside and out. As a partner at the Gallt and Zacker Literary Agency, she works with some of the best novelists and illustrators working today. Listen to her take on what works and what doesn't, and tips for penning your own YA masterpiece.